Soldier used army knife to rob €300 from betting shop

A CASH-STRAPPED solider was quickly identified after he robbed a betting shop located next to Sarsfield Barracks where he was based, Limerick Circuit Court heard.

Three-star Private Alan O’Callaghan was arrested minutes later in a nearby pub after he ran from Bambury’s bookmakers shop in Wolfe Tone Street with e300 in cash.

He used his army knife to threaten a student working in the bookmakers, forcing her to hand over e300 from the cashbox.

O’Callaghan, 27, with an address at Bengal Terrace, Limerick joined the army in 1999 and had undergone a three-month treatment programme for a drink addiction.

The court heard that he began drinking at the age of 10 when his father died from an illness related to addiction.

He carried out the robbery on July 11, 2007 and yesterday pleaded guilty to the offence.

State prosecutor, John O’Sullivan, BL said that when arrested shortly after the robbery, O’Callaghan told gardaí he was drunk at the time and owed a lot of money.

A number of people identified him as he left the scene of the crime on foot.

Captain Martin McGrath told the court that if a custodial sentence was imposed, O’Callaghan would be discharged from the army. If a fine was imposed, he said, the Private’s conduct rating would be dropped from good to fair.

Brian McInerney, BL, for O’Callaghan said the accused had written an apology letter to the student and said that what he had done was completely and utterly wrong.

While in the army his drinking had gone out of control and he had undergone a three-month treatment programme.

What had transpired on the day of the robbery, he said, had been a turning point in his life.

He was supporting a child and paying maintenance.

O’Callaghan had never been in trouble before or since, he said, and money would be paid to the student.

Judge Carroll Moran said it was not a matter for him to say if O’Callaghan should stay in the army, but he was making an order that would facilitate the accused staying in the army.

He added: “Staying in the army, I believe, would be of benefit to him.”

He adjourned the case to January 2010.